In the wake of the U.S. strike that took out longtime Iranian terror chief Qassem Soleimani, a Reddit user posting under the handle "RevolutionaryCommie" denounced America's "ghoulish" and "disgusting" response to Soleimani's death, writing, "They are a disgraceful country." The comment earned an endorsement from left-wing Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who responded, "I can't disagree."
The remark from "RevolutionaryCommie" came in response to an original post highlighting President Donald Trump's famous American flag tweet sent after the January 2020 strike killed Soleimani, then the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans during the Iraq war. The self-described communist Redditor took issue with the "responses to the tweet: the racism, the cheering death, the calling for more killings, the mocking of the dead," calling it "the most ghoulish and disgusting thing I've ever seen. They are a disgraceful country." Platner, using the alias "P-Hustle," responded with his endorsement.
"I'm an American, and I can't disagree with you tonight," he wrote.
The comment, which has not been previously reported, is the latest in a series of remarks from Platner denigrating the United States and its military veterans.
Months before his Soleimani-inspired remark, in June 2019, Platner—who also referred to himself as a "communist" on Reddit—denigrated a Purple Heart recipient, Teddy Daniels, who was shown in a then-viral video being shot by Taliban fighters amid a firefight in Afghanistan. Daniels had purposely moved into open fire to draw attention away from his fellow soldiers. Platner called him a "dumb motherf—er" who "didn't deserve to live."
"This video never gets old," Platner wrote. "Dumb motherf—er didn't deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban's part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home."
Years later, in May 2024, Platner appeared on the podcast Green Beret Chronicle Show to expand on comments he originally posted to Reddit accusing members of Task Unit Bruiser, the legendary Navy SEAL unit that included widely regarded war hero and "American Sniper" Chris Kyle. Platner suggested Kyle shot innocent civilians to inflate his kill numbers, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
"[Kyle's] stories about how many people he was shooting certainly tracked with the behavior we, I, witnessed," said Platner, who served in Iraq but said he "didn't know" the members of Task Unit Bruiser. "It's relatively easy to get high numbers like that if you're, if you're a little less discriminating in your fire than, say, a more professional unit would be."
"I almost felt like there was, like, a, like, a weird practical joke being played on me by the war that, like, all these, all these years later … people are telling me, like, 'Oh, look how great this guy is, these guys are amazing heroes,'" Platner continued.
In another post from March 2019, Platner called the Army an "awful" organization "full of fat, lazy trash who would rather not be in uniform," the Free Beacon reported.
The remarks sparked intense criticism from U.S. veterans and their family members. Daniels responded to Platner in a Wall Street Journal piece that called Platner an "entitled brat."
"Mr. Platner has been caught disparaging the service of fellow veterans like decorated Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and Vice President JD Vance," Daniels wrote. "He also disparaged me while commenting on a viral video of a firefight in which I sustained numerous wounds from a Taliban ambush. I received a Purple Heart for my injuries, but Mr. Platner cheered for my death from behind a keyboard."
Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, also took aim at Platner, telling Fox News, "Nothing says, 'I want attention,' more than disparaging a national hero who's also dead."
"It's cowardly, it's lowbrow to lie about somebody else, right, and it distracts from what you've probably said," she added.
Indeed, Platner has said plenty, most notably in comments posted to Reddit under his since-deleted "P-Hustle" account. In addition to calling himself a "communist," Platner wrote that rural white Americans "actually are" racist and stupid and that rape victims should "take some responsibility."
Those comments emerged while Platner was embroiled in a high-profile primary race against Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills. He blamed the comments on depression, PTSD, and alcohol abuse and carried on in the race, eventually prompting Mills to suspend her campaign as polls showed Platner leading her by more than 30 points in the primary and leading Republican incumbent Susan Collins by nearly 10 points in the general election.
In light of more recent scandals, however, the polling gap between Platner and Collins has shrunk. Platner faced a fresh wave of criticism after the New York Times reported on his troubled relationships with women, most notably quoting an ex-girlfriend who accused Platner of physical abuse and said he boasted of deliberately choosing his infamous "Totenkopf" tattoo—a skull-and-crossbones symbol associated with the Nazi SS—because he found it "relevant" to his military unit. A recent poll from Quantus Insights found that Platner now leads Collins by just 1 point.
Platner's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
